Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!

Opening lines. As I write these words, dramatic music fills my head with lots of dum-da-dums and cello/timpani combinations. The words or the notes you begin with shape the mood of your entire story. I’ll admit, I’ve never been particularly good at them, probably due to my tendency to give plotting a very wide berth. The title of this post, as some of you may have recognised, is of course from Dr Seuss’ ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go!’ which was one of my favourite books as a child.

As this is my first week in my new city, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favourite opening lines of all time. And in case you were wondering how I have time to write amongst the chaos of packing and moving, I cheated. The schedule feature is perfect for procrastinating! 🙂

From Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Admittedly not quite the first line but near enough.

Here is a small fact. You are going to die.

From Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind.

The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.

From George Orwell’s 1984.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.